Wednesday, November 17, 2010

REDFERN IN THE NEWS AGAIN

http://www.okcfox.com/newsroom/special_reports/videos/vid_191.shtml

Well done, our kid! However, bizarrely, here is an earlier version of the same story, without Redders....



BLANCO BLUE DOG: DNA results

We have just received the interim DNA results from the Blanco blue dog carcass. Richie and Naomi retrieved tissue samples last year and they have languished in Naomi's freezer ever since. The DNA report from Davis Labs in California is only partly conclusive. They write: "Because it was a female, we could not examine the paternal lineage markers. We detected coyote in the sample, but the maternal lineage was non-coyote. It will take some more detective work to figure out if it is dog or wolf".


We shall be sending samples to Lars very soon for more tests.

NAOMI WEST: Black deer

The other day Naomi told us that her brother had seen a melanistic deer near where she and Richie live. She followed it up with this link discussing how more black deer, which are rare in North America, are being spotted in Texas.

http://www.buckmanager.com/2008/07/21/more-black-deer-spotted-in-texas/

NEIL ARNOLD AND MATHIJS KROON: Mystery Animals In The Netherlands: Part One

Over the last few years a chap named Mathijs Kroon has been a source of information regarding strange animals and animal/monster folklore in the Netherlands. Maybe one day he’ll be interested in putting all his findings into a book, but for now I present the latest batch of unusual stories he has passed on to me:

The Snakeking

There are 3 species of snakes in the Netherlands;

smooth snake Coronella austriaca
common european adder Vipera berus
grass snake Natrix natrix

People believed they all have one king; the snakeking. In the province of Groningen he was known as woaterslang or otterslang

It was believed that he was much bigger and fatter than the other snakes and of lighter colour; white or yellow.

When he was threatened he whistled or shouted loudly and all the other snakes appeared, rolling like hula-hoops (they took their tails into their mouths) to protect their king.


You could only escape them by throwing a red piece of clothing or handkerchief. They would stop to shred it to pieces and then continue their journey. This distraction enabled any potential victim time to escape.

In the province of Drenthe the people believed that for every 1,000 snakes there exists a king. In the Friesland province the king snake is known as kroantsjeslang and wears a crown upon its head.

DANCING DODO: Don't saw we never do ow't for you

Following Glen's story about the 5 Alive TV ad yesterday, we felt compelled to see the dancing dodo for ourselves. So here it is.





For those of you who wondered (like me), Don Fardon was originally the singer with a band called The Sorrows who I have to admit that I have never heard of (although I bet Neil Arnold has), and are really rather smashing.